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Christ collectivesAn article by Holland Cotter in The New York Times (‘Collectives blurring the lines of who makes modern art’) got me thinking about what the phenomenon of ‘art collectives’ might teach us about the nature and purpose of the church. An art collective represents the sort of fusion of community,... (11th Jun. 2007 | 0 comments)

The adoptionist parable of the slave in the vineyard in The Shepherd of HermasIn yesterday’s post I touched on the parable of the vineyard in The Shepherd of Hermas Parable 5 as an early instance of an adoptionist christology. Mark Edwards drew my attention to a ZNTW article by Bogdan Bucur, which argues for a non-adoptionist reading of the parable and its interpretation.... (8th Jun. 2017 | 0 comments)

A quiz on the atonement (quick and dirty version)This is my narrative-historical alternative to Tim Challies’ Quiz on the Atonement with all the responses expanded. The slow and clean version can be found here.1. I have sinned against the holy God, who by nature hates sin, and so I have offended him.(True: Rom. 3:23; Hab. 1:13)The first problem... (13th Apr. 2017 | 0 comments)

Postmodernism and the Jesus of historyThere is both a diachronic (historical) and a synchronic (a-historical, existential) dimension to the development of a theology for the emerging church. The argument has for the most part been developed synchronically in response to cultural and philosophical changes taking place both inside and... (12th Sep. 2003 | 0 comments)

Numbered with the transgressorsJohn Piper argues that the quotation of Isaiah 53:12 in Luke 22:37 is evidence that Jesus saw himself as the righteous servant who would ‘make many to be accounted righteous, and… bear their iniquities’ (Is. 53:11): ‘So in the Gospel of Luke, the way Jesus saves is by shedding his blood and for the... (26th Apr. 2010 | 0 comments)

No, it's not all about AD 70I’ve just been listening to what strikes me as an excellent introductory podcast on eschatology by Martin Scott - a nice example of how a rethinking of eschatology along narrative-historical lines has the potential for generating good new theological syntheses. It caught my eye because Martin lists... (24th Apr. 2009 | 0 comments)

Salvation By Allegiance Alone (3): pre-existence and the gospel of JesusI am in solid agreement with Matthew Bates that the central narrative of the New Testament—the narrative which makes sense of the “gospel”—has to do with the enthronement of Jesus as king by his resurrection from the dead and his ascension to the right hand of the Father.Two areas of disagreement... (24th Apr. 2017 | 1 comment)

What it means to be perfectA man comes to Jesus and asks what good thing he must do to inherit the life of the age to come (not ‘eternal life’ in the traditional sense). Jesus tells him that in order to enter life he must keep the commandments. The man has done this. What is still lacking? Jesus tells him that if he would be... (24th Apr. 2007 | 0 comments)

Two unconventional ways of thinking about the delay of the parousiaI have been getting a kick out of Albert Schweitzer’s 1930 book The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle. What’s so refreshing about the book is that Schweitzer attempts consistently to frame Paul’s thinking eschatologically. The book’s dated in many ways, and a lot of exegetical water has passed under... (19th Feb. 2016 | 0 comments)

What “horizon” do we have to live for?To take my mind off the gloomy prospect of prolonged political chaos that we’ve woken up to here in the UK, I thought I’d write a quick response to the following question that was put to me—just to get things in perspective:If I understand what you’ve written on your blog correctly, ​the... (9th Jun. 2017 | 2 comments)